The season of red and vampy lipstick as finally arrived, and I couldn't be more excited! However, red lipstick used to be a field I didn't venture in. I never thought I could be the type of girl that wore red in the same way she wore a nude. God, I used to own way more purple lipsticks than red, and if that doesn't explain how afraid I was of red, I don't know what will.
I always found a certain magic behind a good red lip, I think it's the sexiest colour you can wear on your lips and I always wanted to be one of those girls that can't leave the house without it. This led me to a search, a search for the perfect red, as far from the orange bright ones as possible,, because God knows I was convinced they would make me look awful. Not too dark and not too light. With a neutral undertone, not too blue or not too yellow. It had to be the perfect shade.
It was my first week at University and on a trip to MAC I found what was the closest I had ever been to finding THE red, I found a beautiful vampy red with a brown undertone that made me feel exactly as I had imagined, sexy, bold and overall like a woman instead of a girl.
The shade is Studded Kiss and the lipstick has a matte finish, something I would later find was an absolute necessity for the red to suit me, much more than the shade or the undertone.
I've had this lipstick for too long now for sure and I absolutely still love it, when Fall comes around this is one of the first colors I pick up because it just goes well with the season. It lasts really well on the lips and as any other MAC Matte Lipstick is quite hydrating on the lips.
From that point on, and being an assumed makeup addicted I started buying every variation of that MAC shade and every dupe I could find.
Last year, however, things were about to change. My friend Jael gave me a bag filled with makeup products she didn't use anymore and among them, there was this little red lipstick from Mellow Cosmetics and brand I had never heard of but that made me instantly fall in love with their lipstick formula. If like me you had never heard of them they are cruelty-free, vegan and paraben free and have a huge range of products. Anyway, back to the lipstick. The shade is called Madness and that is how I felt for even thinking about using it. It is a pretty classic old Hollywood, diva kind of red
with again, a matte finish. I did it, I used it and I had never felt better in a shade, it's like we were meant to be. I loved it. The formula on the Mellow lipstick reminds me a lot of the formula of MAC Mattes and their price point is really close. This shade is, in my opinion, is a more Christmassy red color and is for sure going to be my go-to holiday lipstick this year.
Our story continues one afternoon in my godmother house, she had ordered a red lipstick from Oriflame that she didn't remember getting and it wasn't a shade she would wear (she is 70 years old, so a fire bright red wouldn't be my cup of tea either if I was in her shoes). Knowing that I love all things makeup she decided to give it to me. It was spring and I always like to use warmer and brighter shades when the warmer weather comes. By this point, my makeup taste had evolved quite a bit since the first year of Uni and I was bolder and ready to risk more. I did an Instagram pool asking if you guys thought it suited me, I received an overwhelming amount of messages saying that it looked really good and that I could rock whichever lipstick I wanted and it really made me feel empowered. If you follow me on social media you would have seen me wearing this shade in a bunch of different pictures I posted during the summer. It's the color Eternal Flame from the Oriflame The One Colour Unlimited Lipstick Super Matte (again, you see the theme with the finish of the shades). I truly love this color and it has grown to be my warm weather lipstick of choice.
And this leads us to the last chapter of our story, this chapter places me in a drugstore and has me having the realization that I really needed a red liquid lipstick because it would last through dinners and drinks and nights out and parties and everything in between. Had prior read a bunch of great reviews of the Rimmel London Stay Matte Liquid Lip Colours I feel like the choice was already made for me. I ended up picking a shade that was super close to Studded Kiss (what can I say, there is no love like the first), named Plum This Show. The formula is great and it holds on to the lips for quite some time even if I'm talking, kissing or eating. The applicator is amazing and it really helps me define my lips a bit like a lip liner.
This great addition to the family really made things full circle for me, from the girl who was afraid to buying lipstick and bought a cool brick color red to the girl that has been exploring all the colors in the spectrum and still is buying brick colored red lipsticks. Moral of the story, look for safe ways to step out of your comfort zone because the best things in life lie outside the comfort zone itself.
No comments